On June 16, 2020 the Toronto Police Service issued its “Annual Hate Crime Statistical Report” for 2019. Here are excerpts from the report:
In 2019, there was an increase in the total number of hate crime occurrences reported to the Service. In comparison to 2018, the number of reported occurrences increased from 137 to 139 representing an increase of approximately 1.5%. Over the past ten years, between 2010 and 2019, the average number of reported hate crimes is approximately 145 per year…
In 2019, the Jewish community, followed by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community, the Black community, and the Muslim community were the most frequently victimized groups. The three most frequently reported criminal offences motivated by hate in 2019 were mischief to property, assault and utter threats. The Jewish community was the most frequently victimized group for mischief to property and utter threat occurrences. The LGBTQ community, followed by the Black community were the most frequently victimized group for assault occurrences.
There are multiple factors that can affect fluctuation in the number of reported hate crimes and the community groups that are victimized. These factors include international events, community educational programs, hate crime training, and increased reporting.
When more than one identifiable group (i.e. Catholic and Ukrainian) was targeted in an incident the occurrence was categorized as multi-bias. In 2019, 15 of the 139 hate occurrences were categorized as multi-bias. In 2018, 21 of the 137 hate occurrences were categorized as multibias.
